Ok. Got the system just how I wanted for a backup system(kinda), then I go to make a snapshot.

I put the file (let's call it 1.iso) on a usb then migrate to a windows machine to use rufus to create a liveusb from 1.iso. On the liveboot the menu screen greets me with ONLY the help option. Weird and not helpful, so I dismiss it and start from scratch.

Now I have a new iso (2.iso) When 2.iso is made into a liveusb I'm greeted with something much different.

I have no idea what rufus does, but it looks like it screwed up the creation of the syslinux directory or the boot menu. What did you do differently in the creation of the two isos?

To create a usb that will just be used for installing the system, you can dd the image to the thumb drive. For a live-usb that I'm going to use as the OS, I use refracta2usb and set up persistent volumes.